The Golden Hotel

Possibilities

Four days passed by in a blink of an eye.

At around eight in the morning, the same high-pitched noise coming from the speaker boxes screeched throughout the hotel. Everyone inside Rooms 24,456 and 24,457 stopped on what they were doing to listen.

"Good morning to each and every one of you. I would like to apologize for the early announcement. I find it necessary to . . . let you prepare for the next game which will be held at the back of the hotel around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The game shall be played inside a Ferris wheel and from there, you will know what to do.

"When the game begins, you need to answer correctly within four minutes, otherwise . . . you will experience a shocking result. For now, you may do anything you want inside the hotel. Anything that pleases you, just like how you all wandered around in the past couple of days. However, you are forbidden to escape. Escaping means death. My announcement ends here. Good luck, players."

In Room 24,456, Theo had been inspecting the contents of their fridge at the kitchenette for four consecutive days. It was always and mysteriously stocked with meat, eggs, seafood and vegetables. He went to the extent of checking the wall behind the fridge but there were no signs of secret passages.

"Have you found anything suspicious?" Faith curiously peeked inside. She was surely impressed about how this killer wasn't starving them to death. They all looked fresh.

Theo shook his head, closed the fridge's door and turned to her. "None. We've already tried to look for hidden trap doors. There's just . . . nothing." He shrugged his shoulders.

Faith cupped her chin to think. "Maybe the killer used the same method. He or she sprayed another sleeping gas inside our suite while we were asleep?"

"Ugh! I bet the killer has accomplices and they all snuck inside. It's impossible for him or her to execute all of this!" Meg placed her glass of coke on the granite countertop and sat on a stool chair. "And I've been wondering. Why does the killer have to bother feeding us when we're going to die in the end?"

"For obvious reasons." Kacey was seated beside her. She plucked out a grape from the fruit basket and ate it. "By keeping us alive, he or she will be able to play with our lives longer. If I were the killer, it wouldn't be fun for me to watch you all play the games if you're starving. Starving means no energy."

"Y'know, maybe we should be asking ourselves about why the hotel is . . . uh . . . built here?" Klein was leaning on the countertop. He reached out for the grapes, plucked out one fruit and plopped it into his mouth. "Is it really built for killin' people? He's one crazy killer." Then he plucked out another grape, trying to feed Kacey this time, but she gave him a scowl and smacked his hand away. A fond chuckle escaped his mouth when he attempted again. "You might starve!"

"S-Stop it, you moron! I can feed myself!" Kacey snatched the grape from his fingers and looked away, hiding her reddened face. "A-Anyway, Klein has a good point."

Meg rolled her eyes upon seeing the two lovebirds. They seemed to have a budding romance going on and this didn't surprise her. Klein had been acting like Kacey's shadow for the past days while she could be seen blushing from time to time. Slowly, she scooted away from them and drank her glass of coke. Why was she stuck with them of all people?

"Remind me why the killer had to group us together like this?"

"That's the given instruction. Youngest and oldest." Theo recalled how they had found a folded paper inside the red box along with their room keys. There could be a reason behind it, but there might be nothing at all.

"Okay, so how can you explain this hotel's very existence?" Meg threw the question to Faith. "Who do you think is the killer?"

Faith paused for a moment, debating if she should go all out throwing in her assumptions. But one way or another, she would sound as if she knew what she was talking about. Sighing, she faced Meg and said, "I can only think of the killer literally building this hotel for killing. We're just the first victims. And as for the killer, he or she could be just a random stranger who got paid to kill us. Maybe . . . he or she had no choice."

"That's the most stupid piece of s**t I've ever heard!" Yves then came walking into the scene, and they all turned to him. He was leaning against the doorway with his arms folded across his chest. "No offense, Faith. I meant the, um, hotel. The rest is good."

"O-Oh. No biggie." Faith gave him a wry smile. She should have been used to his attitude by now but it seemed like he could still catch her off guard. Clearing her throat, she gathered her thoughts and asked, "Have you guys noticed something weird about the announcement?"

"Like what?" Theo c****d his head.

"The killer said, 'When the game begins, you need to answer correctly within four minutes, otherwise . . . you will experience a shocking result.'"

"Shocking result? Voltage?"

"Hold up!" Klein straightened his posture, averting his attention from Kacey. He didn't like the sound of that. "It better not be the killin' method. Is it?"

"Electricity, duh!" Meg said in a matter-of-fact tone, shooting him a glare. "What else could be shocking?"

Klein grimaced at the idea of how it would harm his body. Getting electrocuted would be very painful and it could count as an effective weapon to kill someone quickly. The only way to enjoy the next victim's death was to slowly torture him or her. Hopefully, he wasn't the next target to experience such tragedy.

As for Faith, she had been thinking about their next game. If she were the killer, how would she execute it? There were a lot of possibilities to come up with and the probability of thinking the same as the killer was low. Then again, what if the killer wanted to let them know what he or she had in mind? This killer seemed to like games in general.

"Depending on the type of game, many of us might fail to answer a question or do the given task." Faith bit her lower lip. "The killer can choose to torture us by lowering the amount of voltage. Now, we all know that the killer can choose to not play by the rules. Even if we have answered the question correctly or have completed the given task, the amount of voltage can go higher. On the other hand, even if that player is right but the killer have already chosen him or her to die, will still die. You guys get my point?"

Everyone fell silent and had a bitter look on their face, but not Meg. She bombarded Faith with a number of questions.

"Oh, wait. Didn't you tell us that the killer could be one of us?"

"Y-Yeah, I did. What about it?"

"Then how did he or she murder Judy right in front of us when we were all facing each other at the poker table?" She raised an eyebrow, daring her to answer. "We can see the slightest movements. How about the announcements? How will you explain that?"

Theo appeared to have noticed her aggressiveness and sharp tongue. The expression on his face changed, somewhat troubled while Faith's head started to feel strained out of annoyance. It seemed like Meg was attacking her for something she had done wrong, forcing her to admit a dark secret.

Despite her sudden rudeness, Faith managed to control the expression on her face and take a deep breath. "Maybe the killer—"

"The killer could have programmed the dealing machine," Theo interrupted Faith. Secretly, he eyed her to let her know that he should handle the situation, and she knew what he was trying to convey. Returning his attention to Meg, he continued with a stoic gaze, "If I were the killer hiding behind these walls, I'd install a mini camera in it to have it act as my eyes and to control it better."

"Wait up!" Klein widened his eyes. "That means . . . the killer has been watchin' us through a monitor?"

"Inside a control room." Theo smirked, showing that he was very confident about his deductions. "Having a control room means he or she would have all sorts of buttons and remotes to operate his or her invented devices, like the dealing machine."

Faith snapped her fingers, her face brightening. "Therefore, the announcements could either be recorded by the killer or the killer's accomplices were in charge of recording their own voices before playing it! He or she doesn't have to go through all the trouble of sneaking in and out. That way, we wouldn't suspect him or her as the killer if he or she is one of us."

Klein's mouth hung open. "I remember the killer sayin' about letting us—"

"Excuse me!" Meg sharply raised her voice, catching their attention. She stood up from her stool chair, went around the counter table and stopped right in front of Theo. "I don't remember asking you." She glared at him before turning to Faith. "And you. Are you sure you're not the killer? You're so into this from the very beginning. You better not be hiding your alibis right now!"